The Last Night that She Lived
by DottoraL'Artista
Summary: The Doctor threw a lever, the TARDIS jolted into motion with the breaks still on, and they were off to what River hoped was to be the best night of her life.


Her handcuffs beeped quietly and she looked up in the direction of the prison ship orbiting the planet. "Oh! I think that's my ride," she said.

"Can I trust you, River Song?" the Doctor asked. He's so young, almost _not_ HER Doctor.

"If you like, but where's the fun in that?" she responded, ever the flirt. She'd flirt with anything with a pulse, given the chance. She was quickly beamed up to the awaiting prison ship, where several guards were upon her instantly. River knew the drill; as soon as the cuffs were off, she placed herself at parade rest and spread her arms. The guard patted her down and removed three of the four guns stashed on her person, then stripped her of her camouflage gear and tossed a standard issue prison vest and jumpsuit at her feet.

Ever the insurgent, River picked up the clothes at her feet and walked to the awaiting transport cell, her hips swaying a bit. She shot seductive glances all around her, and received a number in return. She sat down on the cot as the door to the cell slammed closed in front of her. She waited until all but one of the guards were gone, got up, and pulled the remaining one through the bars and kissed him.

River felt the guard's soft lips go limp under her own and realized that the guard was female. Chuckling to herself, she pulled on the vest and jumpsuit, lacing up the boots that were waiting for her on her bunk. She started to think about how she would exaggerate the story to the Doctor just so that she could see how his face colored when he was jealous, but she stopped herself. She knew that she had little hope of ever seeing the Doctor in his eleventh regeneration again.

Sinking down onto her bunk with her head in her hands, River heard the door slide open. Not bothering to look up, River sighed, "What?"

"Doctor Song, I believe you forgot this…" a familiar voice said. River's head jerked up and there he was, standing right there in front of her, with a new haircut and a suit, handing a small, blue diary back to her.

Taking the book, River asked, "Doctor, where did you find this?" Quickly flipping to the last entry, she skimmed the last page. This was _her_ diary, and the entry on the Byzantium was just waiting to be written. She'd have to get a new one soon. There were only a few pages left. "Oh, you know the old girl, she likes to hide things and let me find them later," the Doctor replied.

"So the TARDIS took this from me a few hours ago, hid it, and now you've found it and are giving it back, hoping against all hope that the diary and I will match up?" River said, raising an eyebrow. The Doctor grinned and gestured down the corridor where his TARDIS was waiting. "Like I said, you know the old girl, always takes me where I need to go. This is one of those happy occasions when where I want to go and where I need to go coincide."

River laughed as the Doctor twirled around in excitement at the coming trip. He grabbed her hand and tugged her out the door, sonicing the cell door and all of the security cameras on the way down the hall. There was the TARDIS, new and ancient, big and little, and the bluest of blue. As they stepped up to the door, the Doctor snapped his fingers and the doors swung open, welcoming the pair home.

Once they were inside of the box and the Doctor had sent them hurtling through the Vortex, he turned to River and asked her, "So, Doctor Song, where do you want to go?"

River thought for a moment and started flipping through her diary, looking for something she had written a few months previously. She found the page and closed the book as she said, "Darillium. You told me you'd take me several times; I'm holding you to your word tonight."

The Doctor's jovial grin immediately dropped from his face, his entire demeanor turning from bubbly to miserable. "How did I know you were going to say that?" he mused to himself. The Doctor's melancholy attitude faded quicker than the rains of the desert planet of Biylia, and he was soon back to bouncing about the console room, flipping switches and pulling levers, never once straying towards the stabilizers.

Dismissing his odd behavior as another one of his many quirks, River said, "Well Doctor, we're obviously going to a place where the attire is quite formal, and I haven't got a thing to wear…"

The Doctor smiled, although it didn't reach his eyes. He gestured towards a coat stand with a lone dress hanging on it. The dress shimmered like one of the green lakes on the south side of Atari VI and River immediately recalled when she had first worn this article of clothing. She had jumped off the Empire state building, knowing that the Doctor would catch her. Fortunately, the dress had proven quite resilient to water damage. Not bothering to go into a different room to change, River toed off her boots, pulled her vest over her head, and untied the jumpsuit from about her waist, letting it fall to the floor. She stepped out of the pile of clothing and made sure to walk past the Doctor on her way to the coat stand.

To her infinite satisfaction, the Doctor's attention toward the console evaporated immediately. He watched her saunter over to where the dress hung, and pull the zip down the back. She put the dress on over her head and then looked expectantly over her shoulder at her husband. After a few seconds of silence from the Doctor, River coughed, the noise snapping the man out of his reverie. He rushed over to her, tripping over his own limbs and tumbling down the stairs to land in a heap at her feet. Just as easily as he fell, the Doctor bounced back up and pulled up the zip on the dress.

The TARDIS landed, and River turned around and kissed her Doctor. He reacted as usual, with flailing and awkwardness. River smiled against her husband's mouth. After all of these years, he was still surprised when she kissed him. The Doctor pulled away and River chuckled and whispered, "Thank you for the trip, sweetie," into his ear. He smiled, grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the door.

"Really Doctor, I am a bit disappointed, first you give me some slap-dash modified old model of a sonic and then you go to visit my parents!" River said, as she marched back to the TARDIS. Of course, the Doctor had promised that they would go to Darillium tonight. Instead, however, he had decided to go to 1930's New York to chat up her parents first. She hadn't shown herself to the Ponds, as they would have inevitably delayed their journey.

River wrenched the TARDIS door open with the Doctor on her heels, saying over her shoulder, "You nostalgic idiot. You just can't keep away, can you?" However, when she opened the door, she was confronted by another Doctor, this one in a white suit. River was puzzled, but she figured that the man could do what he wanted. Then she noticed the dress. It was the same one that she was wearing, hanging on the same coat rack, only this time the coat rack had moved. "Who else is here?" She demanded.

The Doctor seemed a bit flummoxed. He looked back and forth between her and the passage to the rest of the TARDIS a few times, and said, "River, could you just… check the light on top? I think the… bulb needs changing."

River frowned. The Doctor was hiding something. He was _definitely_ hiding something. "The bulb," she said incredulously. The Doctor nodded once. She spun around in a huff and marched back outside. Sure enough, there on top of the TARDIS, the light shone bright, just as it had for eleven hundred years. She opened the door again and walked back into the TARDIS, saying, "The light's fine, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"No, River, wrong TARDIS, I'm parked round back!" another Doctor said, bursting through the door right behind her. This one wore the black suit that she had remembered him in from earlier that night. Both Doctors looked at each other. The black suited Doctor smiled and said, "Younger version."

Oh, she remembered this. This was the night that he had picked her up and given her the green dress in the first place. The two previous times she had been here, she had thought another woman was on board. It was only now that she realized that the women from both experiences were simply her younger self. River gasped, her head instantly flooded with possibilities.

"Two of you? The mind races, does it not?" She said, staring at the younger Doctor. The older Doctor came closer to her and pulled on her elbow saying, "Come on, we'll be late," while the younger Doctor smirked. Although late was usually a moot concept when traveling with a Time Lord, River did want to get going. She whirled on her heel and shouted over her shoulder as she ran out the door, "He's taking me to the Singing Towers of Darillium! He's been promising for _ages_!"

After finding her way to her Doctor's TARDIS, River sat down in the jump seat and waited. The Doctor came along shortly afterwards with a strange look on his face. "Whatever's the matter, Sweetie?" River asked. For the second time that night, the Doctor shook himself from some despondent mood and was cheery again.

"Come on, River, like I said, we'll be late, no time for questions now!" The Doctor said. Again, River decided to ignore the foreboding feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach. She was determined to have a good time tonight. The Doctor threw a lever, the TARDIS jolted into motion with the breaks still on, and they were off to what River hoped was to be the best night of her life.


End file.
